“Oh, my god,” Poulides said after realizing the uproar that resulted from the incident. “I threw a banana on my way out.”

Poulides, 42, said he grabbed a banana off a catering cart in the bottom of the ninth inning and hurled it toward the field in disgust. He called his action “an indiscretion.”

“I’m embarrassed and shocked by the outcome,” Poulides told the Mercury News. “In hindsight, I wish I didn’t do it and I apologize. I’m very sorry.”

The Giants said they reviewed security video but were unable to identify the person responsible for the act, which can be considered a racial insult.

Earlier on Monday, the Giants organization apologized to both the Orioles and to Jones.

“We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Adam and the entire Orioles organization for this unfortunate incident,” the team said in a statement released through the media. The inappropriate actions of this individual in no way reflect the values of our organization and our fans.”

After Sunday’s game, Jones had tweeted: “I want to thank whatever slapd--- threw that banana towards my direction in CF in the last inning. Way to show ur class u jacka--.”

I want to thank whatever slapdick threw that banana towards my direction in CF in the last inning. Way to show ur class u jackass.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Jones did not mention the incident during postgame interviews, but by 7:45 p.m. Sunday, his tweet was retweeted nearly 1,700 times.

Later Sunday night, Jones responded via Twitter to those who defended the incident.

“I love how some ppl are defending the actions by someone today. Shows how u really are also. All good wit me. I just #StayHungry,” he wrote.

Jones, who is black, homered and drove in four runs on Sunday.
Staci Slaughter, the Giants’ senior vice president of communications, said the club only found out about the incident after Jones tweeted what had happened.

“I wish the incident could’ve been reported to us sooner just so we could have tried to address it right away,” Slaughter said. “Our fans are generally very well behaved, but when we catch somebody doing something like that, we have zero tolerance and we immediately eject them.”

Similar incidents have occurred in recent years at NHL games and European soccer matches.